On Tuesday, I sat down and crunched some numbers.The basic numbers I crunched are these: I write about 5,000 words in a given day. However, I only write twice a week (Tuesdays and Sundays, if anyone is keeping score). This amounts to approximately 10,000 words a week.

Realistically, this is closer to 9,000, but let's go with 10,000 to make the math easy.

A first draft of one of my novels is usually around 100k words before the first series of cuts (which usually brings it down to around 70-80k). 100k words for the novel, 10k words a week... 10 weeks to write a novel at this pace. Usually, that's all fine and well.

However.

The reason I only write Tuesdays and Sundays is because of my pays-the-bills job, and Tuesdays and Sundays are the only days I get off. As we head into November, I'm going to be losing one of those two days. As we head into December, I will lose both and be working a solid 7 days a week until Christmas.

That means... no writing days. Less in November, and probably none in December... and that's not a good thing.

So on the one hand: yay for money to pay for editing, cover art, and food. Yay!On the gripping hand: I have to write faster. I think if I can manage 15,000 words a week, I should be able to finish the new Tintian before November, which means I can send it off for editing during the time I have no time.